Lost and Found
by Skye1963
Summary: John and Dean were shattered the day their baby was taken from them. One year later, they are on a hunt in the same area and they come across two young hunters. Could one of them be Sam? AU, language


_My muse bugged me until I wrote this down. Then she went back on vacation! I only own my OCs not any of the Supernatural characters. I just play with them! At the beginning of this story Sam is 13, Dean is 17 and Sarah is 15._

Lost and Found

Prologue-Lost

Sarah's POV -

When I was five, I was adopted by a nice couple with a son and daughter of their own. They had been my foster family ever since I was two and my family was killed. I loved being with them and my siblings were great to me. Jimmy protected me from bullies and Nancy loved playing with me. It was heaven until a drunk driver ran our car off the road and killed them. I was found by an old woman who lived in the woods and she raised me until I was eleven. She died defending me against a man who was after me for something. Marion explained it to me before she went to confront him. She said the man wanted to have sex with me because he was sick in the head. She was going to make him stop, she said, and she took some of her herbs and her juju bag. She said she was going to make it so he would be sick anytime he looked at any little girl again. Unfortunately, he had come home before she could stash the bag and he shot her. I ran when the police told me what happened. I knew he would be after me to kill me.

Marion had told me about a sacred place in the woods and it was there that I settled down. I made a home out of an abandoned cabin and lived there for four years before he came into my life.

I was out gathering herbs for healing when I heard a scream coming from the North. When I went to investigate, I found the same bastard who had killed Marion. This time he had a young boy and was trying to take off his clothes. I could see the boy had been beaten badly and I saw red. Honestly, I don't remember what I did but when I could see again, there was blood all over the place and I was holding the kid and rocking him. It took a while before he calmed down enough to talk.

"Thanks," he whispered.

"You're welcome," I replied. "Where's your family?"

He shrugged, "I don't know."

"What's your name?"

He looked at me confused and whimpered, "I don't know!" Then he started to cry again. Marion had told me once that when you save a person's life, you need to look out for him or her for the rest of your life. She said that was the way God gave you family. I looked at my new little brother and decided to give him a name.

"My name is Sarah," I began, "Would you mind if I called you Abraham?"

He smiled and said, "I'd like that."

"Okay Abraham, we need to get rid of the monster and then go home."

He surprised me with his next words, "Monsters need to be salted and burned."

We looked in the van where he had been kept and found some salt and matches. After grabbing out the kid's clothes and some of the food we found, we used the gas from the van to light up the corpse and got out of there. Before we got too far, we heard the van blowing up when the flames got to the gas tank. Good. Bastard wouldn't be hurting any other kid. I hugged my brother and we went home. Along the way, I vowed never to let anyone hurt him again.

Chapter One-One Year Later

Dean's POV

It's been one year since Sam was taken from them. One frigging year. Now they were back in the same part of the country, hell same state, double hell same town! The mayor had called Bobby saying that there was a monster in the woods killing people and they needed help again. Bobby called the remaining Winchesters and Rufus for help with this since it sounded like there was a pack of werewolves involved. The killings were on the nights of the full moon and the bodies all had their hearts missing. This was more than one hunter could handle thus the need for reinforcements.

Dean hated being back here. Sure the townsfolk were nice and even sympathetic. They were given the best rooms in the motel and their meals were free at the diner. Many of the people came up to the Winchesters and offered clothes, money and food. Just like they did when Sam was killed. They seemed to understand when neither Winchester was polite. They knew that the pain of losing a family member, especially one as young as Sam had been, was almost too much. The owners of the diner where Sam had disappeared from were especially nice and delivered all the food to the rooms so that none of the hunters had to go down there.

Dean still had nightmares of the day he lost his brother. It had started out the same; they had gotten up and went to the diner for breakfast. John planned for Dean and Sam to do research on a haunting

that morning then they were going to do the salt and burn that evening. They had been talking and joking for a while then Sam went to the bathroom and never came back. The police found evidence that he had been taken by a pedophile that had been seen in the area again. This bastard had been in town once before and was suspected in the death of an older woman. They couldn't get him on that but the neighbors ran him out of town.

For three days, the whole town scoured the woods and didn't find any trace of either Sam or the man. On the fourth day, a burned out van was found. There were traces of a body or bodies that had also been burned. They had also found Sam's shoes in the bushes nearby. The police thought that Sam had fought hard and a lantern was overturned in the van. The two didn't get out before the van exploded. They said it probably was for the best when they found photographs in the surrounding area showing Sam tied up. They also found a bloody knife close to the van's corpse. No doubt in their minds that the pedophile had mortally wounded the poor boy.

When the town people heard what happened, they came to the Winchesters and offered their hearts and homes. But Dean was shattered by the fact his baby brother wasn't going to be with them any longer. He lashed out at everyone but found him being held instead of thrown in jail. When he stopped talking, it was understood and everyone just adjusted. John also found himself at the tender sympathies of the people. Neither Winchester could understand it but John at least tried to reciprocate by finishing the job they came for. When the job was done, he wanted to leave but the people wouldn't think of it. He didn't know it but the town had adopted both men and was determined to make sure that they wouldn't leave until Dean started to heal.

It took two months and many visits to Sam's memorial (put there by the good people of St. Michael's Church) before Dean could cry. It was another month before he started to speak again. After that, the doctor declared that it was okay for the Winchesters to travel and hunt again. They left soon after, vowing never to go back to the place where their youngest had died. Now they were back.

When they got there, the first thing Dean did was to visit the memorial. "Well, little brother, I'm back," he said with tears in his eyes. "God I miss you! It hurts just to breathe knowing that I'll never hear your voice again. I can't eat without wishing you were there bitching about my food or that I don't close my mouth while chewing. I gave up driving since you're not sitting next to me. I just can't…" Dean couldn't go on and he cried bitterly for the brother he had lost.

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John's POV

John watched as his son went out the door knowing he would find Dean at the memorial. He was worried about being back here now that Dean seemed to be finally healing. When Sam died, Dean became depressed and a bit suicidal. Many of the jobs they had done in the last nine months had John pulling Dean back from doing something dangerous enough to get himself killed.

Now they were back at the place where they lost the most precious thing in their lives. Where they both vowed never to come back to all because the town had a werewolf problem and Bobby needed the help. They were very lucky; the police were able to figure out who was in the pack and where they were located. Bobby did the research and had come up with the same conclusions so now all they had to do was wait until dark to go after the sons of bitches. The police were backing them and said that all they would know is that a "wildfire" had claimed the lives of a bunch of campers. Said fire started by their own campfire. It was actually nice to have the law on their side for once.

Bobby and Rufus had gone out to find a good place for the ambush and, with Dean out of the room, all John could do was remember his youngest. He remembered how full of life Sam had been, even when arguing with him. John remembered his baby using puppy dog eyes to get things for Dean when his brother needed a winter coat. The too long hair, the smile with dimples, the innocence of his son had been taken away too soon by a human monster. John put his head in his hands and cried.

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Author's POV

Bobby and Rufus had scoured the woods until they came upon a small meadow. It was perfect; not only for the ambush but also for the controlled burn they would have to do. They knew that Dean would have to act as bait. Hell, the kid insisted on it. The two men gathered firewood and rocks to make a fireplace in the middle of the meadow. They dug the pit and lined it with rocks. Then they stacked the wood in the pit and circled the whole thing with rocks. They went to gather more wood when they heard voices coming from the opposite side of the meadow.

"Idgit kids," thought Bobby.

"Could they be a couple of werewolves?" worried Rufus.

"We'll have to hide and find out," replied Bobby.

Bobby and Rufus to refuge behind a couple of trees and waited and it wasn't long before two teenagers came walking into the meadow. The boy and girl were looking at the ground. They would occasionally pick something and put it in one of the baskets they carried. At one point, the girl went down to her knees and dug up a couple of roots.

"Hey, found some horseradish!" she exclaimed.

"Great! It'll be nice to put on the deer tonight," said the boy. When the boy spoke there was something about his voice that was familiar. Rufus and Bobby looked at each other then went back to listening.

"Hey, don't forget we need some fly agaric for the new medications," said the girl. "We may as well look for some morels also but I don't know if we'll find any here. Not enough deadfall."

"Look, hyssop and marigolds. Didn't you say we needed to dry some more?" the boy asked.

"Yeah and some hops if we can find them," the girl replied.

The men watched as the youngsters picked more herbs and wondered at their skill. It seemed as though they knew what they were doing. But the boy still nagged at them. He reminded both men of someone but neither could think of whom. It wasn't until they saw him smile at the girl they figured out who the young boy was.

"B-Bobby?" Rufus asked uncertainly, "is…is that Sam Winchester?"

"We thought he was dead!" Bobby was in shock. They had a memorial for the kid, for God's sake! What the hell was going on? Silently, the men agreed to follow the teens to see where they went.

The hunters were good. They followed the kids for an hour before they got to an old cabin. When the door closed behind the boy and girl, Rufus and Bobby went to the window and looked in. They were astounded at what they saw. The cabin was a one room place with a single bed by the wall. Crude furniture was around the room and the walls were lined with jars filled with herbs and preserved food. Clothes were hung up neatly by the bed. Rufus looked around the cabin and found an outhouse in the back. There was a well on a rise above the house. Rufus knew that the children got their clean water from there.

While Rufus was looking around, Bobby observed the teens. They worked as a team when getting their herbs and mushrooms ready to dry. The horseradish roots were washed in a bucket of water and put down to dry. The boy got some dried meat out and started to cut it in chunks. He put it in a kettle and filled the kettle with water. It was then put on a hook and placed over the fire. The girl peeled and cut some potatoes, carrots and onions. She washed them off and put them in the kettle. Bobby noticed they worked as a smoothly run team while finishing getting their meal together. While the stew cooked, the teens would put some herbs and other vegetables in the pot. After it was simmering on the fire, the teens started to make up what looked like juju bags and charms. When that happened, Bobby took a closer look at what they had in the room. Protective sigils covered the walls and there was salt lining the tops of the door and windows. There were books on the table that seemed to be well used and very old.

Bobby started as he heard the girl speak, "Do you think we have enough scent repressing balm?"

"No, I just looked and we could use some more. Where is the grease from the last deer?"

"I put it out by the fireplace to soften. You want some nettles and horseradish?"

"Not yet, I need to get some of that skunk scent and I want to do this outside. I hate the smell of skunk in the house!" the boy smiled.

"Why don't you do it later then. I want to make sure we have enough of the other stuff to get rid of the smell before we do it. Besides, I'll need to heat up water and we got food cooking. Do you have the knives ready?" the girl asked.

"Silver knives are ready and the pit is dug before you ask. It's like we never hunted before," he complained.

She laughed and said, "Payback's a bitch little brother. This is getting back at you for asking about the dead man's blood last month!"

He stuck out his tongue and grinned. They had been like that ever since they started hunting together. It was fun and they were very careful.

Bobby backed away from the window, stunned. He couldn't believe these kids were planning to hunt and from what it sounded like, they were going to hunt the werewolves. Rufus came back and saw the look on his friend's face and asked what was going on. When Bobby told him, Rufus said only one word, "Damn!" Yup, that pretty much summed everything up.

The men retreated back into the trees to discuss everything. They needed to figure out what they were going to do about this situation, especially since Bobby had figured out Sam was still alive and well.

"What are we going to do now? Those damn kids are going after the werewolves!" Bobby said heatedly.

"It sounds like they've been hunting for a while. Maybe they can help us out," Rufus replied.

"Yeah and after the hunt, John and Dean Winchester will kill us for not telling them that Sam's alive!" Bobby exclaimed.

"Bobby, doesn't it seem strange that Sam never contacted them after all this time?" questioned Rufus. "After all, Sam would never worry his brother and father like that."

Bobby took off his cap and scratched his head. That was very unSamlike. That kid loved his family and would never want to worry them. "I remember the cops found a bloody knife and pictures showing he had been tied up. Some of those pictures showed bruises. Maybe he has amnesia from trauma and injury? But who's the girl then?"

Rufus thought a bit then said, "That woman who was killed by the guy who took Sam, didn't she have a kid living with her at the time? Didn't the cops say the kid disappeared shortly after the woman died?"

Bobby's eyes got wide, "You don't think…"

"That she found Sam and took revenge on the bastard? Sure do but the question now is what do we do?"

Bobby thought for a minute. Then he said, "I think that one of us needs to go back to town and get the Winchesters while the other makes contact with the kids. You go back and I'll talk to the kids. Sam knows me well and it may help get his memory back. Don't tell those two idgits anything except we found some help and they need to be very careful around the kids. Tell them the kids are traumatized but are good hunters in their own right. We don't need anyone rushing this. If that happens, we may lose Sam again and for good this time."

Rufus nodded and left. It would take him a couple of hours to get back. He really hoped that Bobby could convince the teens to work with them.

Chapter Two-Found

Bobby took a deep breath as he watched Rufus walk away. His friend thought he had the hard part of the job but Bobby knew that what was going to happen next could hurt the kids or save them. He had to tread very carefully. He went to the door and knocked. As he waited, he wondered if they would let him in at all. They seem to be knowledgeable. After all, Sam had been training for a couple of years before he had disappeared. There was a short pause then the door opened to reveal the boy.

Bobby took a good look at him. Sam was taller but those hazel eyes and chocolate brown hair were unmistakable. "Uh, hi. I'm Bobby Singer and I…" he trailed off. Cursing inwardly at his inability to talk to this young boy he had known for years, he tried again. "My friends and I are here hunting and we need information about the best place to put up a blind."

The boy, Sam, said, "Depends on what you're hunting."

The girl walked up behind him and asked, "Abraham, who's this?"

"Sarah, this is a hunter named Bobby Singer. He was wondering where the best place is to put up a blind. I told him it depended on what he's hunting," replied Sam.

Sarah looked at Bobby and informed him, "Hunting during the full moon isn't a great idea. Most animals hide from predators around here."

Bobby liked the way she thought fast then he said, "My friends and I are hunting some predators that have been killing some folks."

"You DNR?" she questioned.

"No, just specialized hunters," Bobby answered truthfully. Then he asked, "Can I come in?"

Sam said, "We have a tradition of giving people some water to drink before they come in. If you do then you can." He handed Bobby a silver flask. Bobby smiled. He knew they were testing him and he took a drink. He could taste the salt in the water. Then he handed it back.

The youngsters backed up and let him in the cabin. Sarah motioned him to sit in a chair while Sam got a cup of tea ready and brought some cookies. Bobby thought it was almost a miracle that they had homemade cookies and decided to ask them. "How'd you make cookies, you don't have a stove?"

Sarah smiled at his curiosity, it wasn't often they got visitors. Most often it was the town priest who brought them items they couldn't gather or make. "Here's our oven," she said showing Bobby a small door by the fireplace.

Bobby got up to check it out and found that it was cleverly made. There was a vent leading to the fireplace that allowed the teens to regulate the heat to the oven. "Huh" was all he said. Then he sat back down.

"We gathered the wheat and made our own flour," volunteered Sam. Bobby grinned; he could see how proud Sam was of their accomplishments.

"What else have you done?" he asked them. Suddenly he was being shown the charms they made, the juju bags, the herbs they gathered and dried and many other projects they had done. Bobby could see the pride in workmanship and the love they had put in each job. Not many people could say they did that these days he thought to himself.

All the while, they asked him pointed questions about the supernatural, testing his knowledge to see if he was who he said he was. He answered most of them but the ones he couldn't answer he said that those were the ones he would have to research. They even asked him to recite one of the many exorcisms. That really made him grin since he was the one who taught them to Sam. By the time they were all done asking questions, Sam's stomach gave a rumble and Sarah laughed. Then she invited Bobby to dinner which he accepted.

While Sam set the table, Sarah whipped up some dumplings and dropped them into the stew. Sam showed Bobby a bucket of clean water so he could wash up and Sarah put some tea on the table. Bobby was surprised when the teens said grace before eating. It wasn't something that John ever taught his boys nor was it something Bobby did with regularity. Sarah brought the stew from the fire and served both males. When Bobby tasted it he was surprised at how good it was. The tea was made as a compliment to the stew. He had three helpings and finally felt full. Then the teens cleared the table and Bobby helped with the dishes. Afterward, Sarah brought out some pies she had made and again Bobby was surprised with the taste. She told him they had collected the raspberries just that morning but the blueberries were actually from the last year.

After everything was done and cleaned, the three sat at the table and talked about the werewolf hunt. Bobby loved their plans and wanted to incorporate them into what the other hunters wanted to do. He told them his friends would be coming soon and asked if it would be all right if they joined the hunt. Sam said yes immediately and Sarah nodded. The more there was the safer it would be. While they waited, the kids got out their weapons and a very smelling balm. Sarah explained that it would disguise their scents and make it easier to sneak up on the werewolves. Bobby was again impressed with the two who sat before him.

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Rufus drove tensely. It took a lot of arguments to get the Winchesters to agree to help on this hunt. Even more arguing to have them follow him to the cabin. When they got there, it was going to be not tense but explosive. He really didn't want to be there when they saw the kids. Dean was going to freak out and Rufus knew one of his freak outs could bring down the sun.

Shortly before they got to the cabin, Rufus pulled over to finish telling them what he needed to. He got out of his van and waited until the two men came up to him.

"Okay Rufus, what's up now?" demanded John.

Rufus cleared his throat and said, "Look, the hunters we found are kids in their mid-teens. Now before you say anything, these kids have been hunting on their own for quite a while. Bobby is checking them out now and will make sure they know how to hunt werewolves but he does think that they will be very helpful."

John was irritated wondering why Rufus was bringing this up now. Before he said anything, Rufus answered his question, "One of the kids is a boy about the age Sam would be. The other is a girl slightly older. They are highly protective with each other," he took a deep breath before continuing. Then he said, "We think the girl used to live with the old woman who was killed by that pedophile who took Sam. We don't know who the boy is."

Dean's eyes got large. He couldn't understand what Rufus was saying then he got it. Rufus and Bobby thought that the boy could be Sam. But Sam was dead, wasn't he? Rufus motioned that they needed to get back on the road so they could get to the cabin before nightfall. They had a hunt to set up.

It only took another ten minutes for them to get to the cabin and by that time Dean was getting antsy. It never felt right that his brother had been killed by a human even an adult without leaving some kind of clue. Plus there was the fact that they only found enough bones for one person by the van. Nothing added up. If Sam had been saved then why didn't he contact them? That's what Dean really wanted to know. This girl that Sam was with would have the answers, Dean was sure of it.

Dean was the first one out of the vehicles and practically ran to the door. Before he could even lift his hand to knock, Bobby opened the door and gave him a silver flask. Dean rolled his eyes he had been through this test so many times it was getting boring. But he knew that if he didn't drink he wouldn't be able to get in the door and he really wanted to. He took a big gulp of water from the flask; he could taste the salt in it. Bobby nodded and moved aside to let him in. He put his hand on Dean's shoulder and squeezed. Dean looked at Bobby who nodded and jerked his head towards the two teens waiting by the table.

Dean took a deep breath and walked up to the kids. He smiled and said, "Hi, my name is Dean. What's yours?"

The girl smiled at him and put herself between the two boys. She held out her hands and said, "I'm Sarah and my brother's name is Abraham." Dean approved of her protective stance. He had recognized it from the one he used to take himself.

The boy looked around Sarah and smiled a greeting. He knew that his sister was highly protective of him. It struck a chord in his memory of someone else doing the same thing. Dean stopped breathing. He looked at the boy and saw a ghost. The brother he thought was dead had been alive all this time. He didn't grab Sam, though. He knew that Sarah would not like it and probably would attack him. His approval of her went up a few more notches.

When John and Rufus finally got in the cabin they stopped in amazement. John was in shock since he was seeing a son he thought was killed but instead was breathing, alive and whole. His knees went weak and he wanted so badly to go to his baby, grab him and never let him go. But he noticed how Dean was acting and decided to take his cues from him. John went to the kids and introduced himself, noticing like Dean did how Sarah put herself between Sam and the other men.

Bobby noticed how nervous the two children were getting and decided to redirect everyone's attention to the table. He had been impressed at the array of weapons the kids had. Even though they didn't have guns with silver bullets, they had slings that used silver bearings, silver knives and arrows with silver coated arrow heads. Sarah had explained that when she lived with Marion she had learned about the supernatural. Marion had been a hunter in her youth and had accumulated many weapons and books. When Marion died, Sarah had cleaned out her house and stored all her stuff at the cabin. Marion had also been a white witch and taught Sarah many of her spells.

The men were impressed to find that children of the tender ages of fourteen and sixteen were well versed in how to kill werewolves. They were even more impressed that the kids actually had a plan that entailed trapping then killing the monsters. Sarah explained that she and Sam (Abraham) had dug a series of pits and lined them with sharpened sticks. John recognized them as pongi pits that the Viet Cong used during the war. Sam talked about the trip lines that were around the werewolves' hunting

area along with other traps that would enable two teens to safely hunt a pack of werewolves. By the time these children had finished talking about their setups, the more seasoned hunters were astounded. Sarah went on to explain that they would have Sam (Abraham) wear a balm that would make his scent disappear while she would let hers draw the creatures in. Sam (Abraham) was to be in a tree and use the sling or bow and arrows to kill their prey at a distance. Sarah would also be using their weapons but she would have been on the ground.

Since the kids already had the traps done and in place, the elder hunters revised their own plans for hunting. Bobby decided that all three of the younger hunters would use the scent-killing balm and be in the trees. John and Rufus would lead the werewolves to the traps and Bobby would use M-80s to shock them using their own acute hearing against them. After their plans were set, they left to get to the hunting ground before moon rise.

Chapter Three-The Hunt

Dean felt gross. Here he was stuck up in a tree, stinking of balm and waiting for the hunt to begin. He was uncomfortable but he actually was happy he wasn't playing bait like their original plan called for. Then he was all for it since there was a slight chance he would die and be with Sam. Now he _was_ with Sam and they were alive. He was going to make sure it stayed that way and he was very sure Sarah felt the same way since her original plan had Sam in the tree, safe. Dean couldn't believe how fast his respect for her had grown until he started to look at her as his little sister.

Dean could see the other two in their perches looking around carefully. They were prepared for the hunt to begin. It was another thirty minutes before they started to hear firecrackers going off and they knew the werewolves were on the way. Beneath the trees they were on were four pongi pits the teens had dug earlier that day waiting to be filled with werewolf. Rufus and John came running up with the monsters on their trail. Dean got his gun ready and the other two notched their arrows. When they saw the werewolves, they waited until the first couple ended up in the pits and the others became enraged seeing their pack mates hurt. Dean took careful aim and shot, hitting his target dead on. One down. Two more got peppered with arrows and died. Bobby came running up and with the other elder hunters, started shooting werewolves.

In all hunts there is an element of danger where the hunter could become the hunted. This was so apparent when Sam's tree was jarred so heavily by a werewolf that he fell from his perch. Sarah and Dean both saw it happen at the same time and jumped to protect their brother. Sarah jumped in front of Sam just as the wolf's claws swiped towards the boy. She grunted as the claws hit her but before anything else could happen, Dean was there and shot the wolf in the head.

Sarah started to say thank you then her eyes widened as she saw the last werewolf sneaking up behind Dean. She shoved Dean away and, using her knife, stabbed the creature before it had a chance

to hurt him. Dean whirled around in time to see the wolf die and Sarah fall to the ground. Sam scrambled to his feet and ran to her crying, "Sarah don't die!"

Dean went to the girl and carefully rolled her over to see the wounds. There were three slashes that ran down her back from her right shoulder to the spine. He hurriedly took off his shirt and used it to put pressure on the bleeding. Then he shouted, "Sam! Go get Dad!"

Sam's eyes got hazy for a second then cleared. He didn't know exactly what he was doing but he trusted his instincts and ran for John. "Sarah's hurt!" he cried. "You have to help her!"

Dean's eyes widened as he saw John running towards them with a worried Sam and Bobby on his heels. Rufus came a few seconds later carrying the deluxe first aid kit. When they got there, John nudged Dean away from Sarah and towards Sam. Then he took the shirt off carefully and saw the damage was extensive. Too bad for even their good kit so he carefully washed the wounds with peroxide and using gauze, he made a temporary pressure bandage and bound up the slashes. Bobby helped him turn Sarah over to get her to wake up and take a couple of amoxicillin tablets. They had to get her to a hospital very soon otherwise she was in danger of bleeding out. Plus they needed to have her checked out for any internal damage. Rufus went to get some logs for a travois and Bobby started to get the bodies into one of the pits for a salt and burn. Dean found his hands full trying to keep Sam from going into shock. Sam was hyperventilating and struggled to get to his sister. Dean knew that the only way to calm Sam down was to bring him to Sarah's side.

When they got there, Dean nodded to Bobby and said to John, "We'll watch her, you go help Bobby with the bodies. When Rufus gets back, we'll take her to the doctor's."

John nodded and left the kids. When he brought the travois, Rufus helped the boys load Sarah carefully on it and insisted on helping Dean carry her out. Sam stayed next to her side on the trip to the cabin and then in the truck to the doctor's.

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Two hours later-

John and Bobby sat in the waiting room with the others. It was killing Sam that his sister was still with the doctor and there hadn't been any word yet. When they came in, he had been treated for severe shock but Dean wouldn't let them put him in a room. Instead he held his baby brother close to his chest and wouldn't let him go. When Sam finally fell asleep, Dean decided to talk to the older hunters.

"Dad," he began, "I think Sam's memories are starting to come back. When I told him to get you I called him Sam and you Dad. It was just for a second but I saw him remembering."

John was startled. He knew that Sam had amnesia, everyone did but it hadn't been said out loud. He wondered that if they had found him a year ago would his amnesia lasted as long as it did. He felt guilty for having taken the police assumption of Sam's death as gospel truth. He also felt guilty for the pain that Dean had gone through for the last year thinking his beloved brother was dead.

"How do you want to handle this?" John asked willing to let his son take the lead.

"I think that separating Sam and Sarah is a very bad idea. The doctor says that the amnesia was probably brought on by the trauma of being kidnapped by that bastard. If we are with them, it will help his memories come back. Dad, if we do let Sarah live with us, we need a home to live in. Let's face it, travelling with a girl is complicated and would be very expensive. We can't afford two rooms and we would need that," Dean said wisely.

John nodded and said, "Let me think on it." Then he walked away.

It was another half an hour before the doctor came out to talk to them. It was decided that since Sarah was an orphan, John would represent himself as her guardian.

"It was touch and go for a while but we did get the bleeding under control. We gave her over one hundred stitches; thirty percent were put in the muscle. We gave her a full spectrum of antibiotics and also a rabies shot just to be on the safe side. She will need some physical therapy to get full motion restored to her arm and back but she should be okay. If you wish to see her, she will be in her room in a few minutes. A nurse will be out to show you where Sarah will be." The doctor smiled at the men and left.

John asked the boys if he could go in and see Sarah by himself for a minute. He wanted to talk to her without them there. Dean nodded in agreement and Sam was still out of it enough to let him. When the nurse came to get them, John led the way until they got to her door. Then the others let him go in alone.

Sarah was groggy but awake enough to understand what was being asked. John had come to her with a question. He asked her if she would like to be his daughter. Her eyes grew moist as Marion's words came back: when you save someone they become family.

As John waited for her answer, he began to babble, "We'll settle down in a house. Bobby already found one for us close to his place. You and Sam will go to school. I'll be the best dad you could ever have…"

Sarah held up her hand tiredly and let John off the hook, "I'll be honored and very happy to be your daughter."

John smiled the biggest he had since the day Sam was born. Then he gave her a hug and kiss before getting the others to let them know what was going on.

SSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS

The next few days were a whirlwind of activity for the Winchesters, Bobby and Rufus. First the mayor and judge helped expedite Sarah's adoption. She became Sarah Marion Winchester. Then Sam's name was legally changed to Samuel Abraham Winchester. When John told the others what was going on, Dean became ecstatic about having another sibling around to mother and Sam was so happy he wouldn't be separated from his sister. Bobby and Rufus were surprised but after seeing the joy in the faces of the Winchesters they were happy for them. Bobby offered jobs to both John and Dean when he heard that John wanted to settle down.

Since Marion's house and goods were sold, the town got together and raised the money the sales had realized. The people also donated clothing and furniture for the new Winchester home. When they were ready to travel, a truck followed them with their new stuff.

With John and Dean's help, Sam's memory continued to improve. He started to call John dad with a regularity that please John to no end. It wasn't until they got to their new home that Sam's memory was completely back.

Bobby found a home that was adjacent to his place and it was a beautiful two-story place with a fireplace. There were four bedrooms and three bathrooms. Bobby figured with a girl in the family, they would need a lot of them. Downstairs had a living room, den, dining room and kitchen. There was a basement also that had a laundry area. The garage was attached and big enough for two cars. When the four Winchesters saw it, they knew they were home.

Epilogue

John was proud of his youngest. Sam had gotten a full ride to Stanford. It just proved how smart his baby was. He and Sarah would both be going to college at the same place so John and Dean knew they would be safe. Bobby made sure to have their apartment checked out and protections were all over it. Dean left his job to drive the pair to California and settle out there himself. When John heard his plans, he laughed to himself. He should have known that Dean wouldn't let his siblings out of his sight, especially since they were going to hunt during the weekends and breaks. Even though John had retired, the children took over the family business. But John also got their promises that they would make sure their homework was done, research was done and safety came first before they hunted.

After the kids left, he went to Bobby's. Nothing was said as Bobby handed him a beer. The two men sat on the porch and watched the sun set.

"Ya know you may have grandchildren soon," Bobby said with a grin.

John groaned and said, "Shut up ya old coot!"

They took another swig of their beers. The warm glow in John's stomach didn't come from the liquor but at the thought of being a grandfather…in time.


End file.
